In the news today…
EPA:
- NPR reports a new “good neighbor” rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency will restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. Nearly two-dozen states will have to cut harmful industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants to improve air quality for millions of people living in downwind communities.
- Washington Post reports the Biden administration announced tougher limits Wednesday on smog-forming pollutants from power plants and other industrial facilities, a move that officials said would reduce air pollution in downwind communities and help Americans suffering from asthma and other respiratory problems.
- E&E Greenwire reports EPA is significantly bolstering regulation of smog-forming emissions from power plants and more than a half-dozen other industries in the latest milestone of the Biden administration’s quest to prod the United States away from coal.
- Inside EPA reports EPA has unveiled its expanded and strengthened Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) to curb interstate ozone, imposing emissions reduction obligations on a host of new states, ratcheting down power plants’ allowances for ozone-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and regulating a series of manufacturing and energy sectors for the first time.
Mining:
- Elko Daily Free Press reports on the progress of mining projects in the U.S.
- E&E Greenwire reports a proposal to ban future mining near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge received a hearing Tuesday before a panel of Georgia lawmakers, who asked no questions of testifying experts and advocates before adjourning without a vote.
Coal:
- Argus reports West Virginia governor Jim Justice (R) received multiple coal bills seeking his approval last week, and he signed one into a law.
- Bloomberg carries an op-ed which discusses how for the first time ever last week, Britain had to call on emergency coal generation to keep the lights on, after keeping plants in reserve all winter.